Matt Redman’s song 10,000 Reasons is one of my favorite worship songs.
Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I’ll worship His holy name
One of the verses says: “Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me…” No matter the circumstances, no matter whether we like them or not, we have countless reasons to sing God’s praise.
My pastor-husband just completed a time of sabbatical, three and a half months of time away from work to allow God to restore his soul. He’s been working in churches our entire marriage but we’ve never had a sabbatical before. It was a rich experience, for him and for our family. He spent six weeks travelling to be with family and friends while the kids finished up the school year; together we spent eight weeks in Costa Rica, immersing ourselves in a new culture.
The gifts of that time keep multiplying. We got to visit other churches, a rare treat for a pastor’s family, and we sang this song in several churches. We sang it again in our home church this morning.
The line “Sing like never before” jumped out at me. God provided this tremendous adventure. It wasn’t always easy; some experiences felt downright difficult. But we kept reminding ourselves that God was with us, that God gave us this gift, that God wanted to teach us things even when we didn’t want to learn them. And now that we’re home, I feel like God has asked us to “sing like never before,” to sing His praise loudly, in new ways, like never before because of what He has done for us and in us.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, may I always sing God’s praise like never before!
